Too many public holidays

The productivity debate has raised the question of whether the minimum wage and penalty rates are too high. How long until big business argues against another irritant: too many public holidays?

A six per cent jobless rate in January, the highest in 10 years, and rising youth unemployment, will encourage business to push for its labour-market wish list. Why stop at reducing penalty rates when business can go to the source and argue for the axing of one or two public holidays?

Only the most narrow-minded business lobby group would see public holidays purely as a cost. Aside from boosting activity in industries such as tourism, albeit with higher wages, public holidays have important individual, community and cultural benefits.

We feel more productive after a long weekend, the holiday brings communities together, important national days are remembered, and the day off helps break up the school semester for kids. But how does one quantify the “soft” benefit of public holidays, versus the cold, hard costs?

Still, I have some sympathy for owners who struggle to pay the wages while their small business closes for public holidays.

As one business owner told me: “Do we really need all these public holidays, particularly the state-based ones fewer people care about any more? Four weeks’ annual leave, two weeks’ worth of public holidays, sick leave and other entitlements is a huge cost. I’m paying staff for almost two months each year when they are not at work.”

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What’s your view?

Does Australia have too many public holidays?

Are public holidays a big cost for your business?

Which public holidays should be axed or replaced by a new holiday?

Is there a genuine case for an extra public holiday?

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It is hard to argue that we have too many public holidays. A 2011 Mercer study on worldwide holiday entitlements found Australia was mid-ranking, with 20 days of annual leave and 10 days of public holidays, including eight national holidays that fall on weekdays, and at least another two holidays proclaimed by the States or Territories.

That is less than several European and Latin American countries with shaky economies, and higher than several Asian countries and in North America. Countries with more public holidays than Australia tend to have 15 days or less annual leave.

There is not much business can – or should – do about Australia’s national holidays. But some State and Territory-based days are due for a rethink. Some State-based holidays seem to have less relevance and awareness these days, and feel like a free day of little significance.

For example, do enough people celebrate the importance of Labour Day in Melbourne, held this month? Do enough young workers think about the Queen’s Birthday holiday, or just see it as a day off? Could public holidays be better timed: fewer in the first half of the year than in the second half?

Do we really need all these public holidays, particularly the state-based ones?

Moreover, is the current schedule of public holidays still relevant, given Australia’s expanding army of self-employed workers and the ongoing trend of workforce casualisation? Some public holidays mean less to the millions of people who are only paid when they work.

The easy answer is that Australia’s public holiday system strikes a good balance between the needs of workers and business, is fair by world standards, and does not need to be tinkered with. Still, there’s room for improvement -- not by axing holidays but perhaps by rethinking a couple of them, and getting a better outcome for everybody.